The dramatic ending of The Handmaid’s Tale’s fourth season was one of its biggest finales yet, though it raises plenty of questions about where the show will go next. For those curious what protagonist June Osborne will get up to in season five, showrunner Bruce Miller gave some hints in an interview with Deadline, joined by series star Joe Fiennes.
While season four essentially wrapped up some of the show’s biggest plotlines, the story was always intended to continue, with a fifth season ordered before the fourth even premiered. The quoted interview contains spoilers for The Handmaid’s Tale season four finale, so only read on if you are up to date.
“What we want the show to do is move forward,” Miller said on the topic of season five. “It should be aggregate. I mean, the characters should be the characters they were at the end of the season added to the characters they are in this season, not just restarted.”
“The finale definitely is a pivot,” Miller continues when pressed for more specific details. “I think what you get at the end of the episode after June spends this whole episode really getting a sense of who Fred is, and we’re reminded of who Fred is in the worst way. So, she makes this decision in the episode.”
“I think we end the episode five minutes before she reckons with what she just did,” he continues. “He is dead, but it isn’t the end of her relationship with Fred Waterford, it isn’t the end of relationship with her anger towards Fred Waterford. It’s all about what happens when you get what you always wanted. She’s in Canada with her husband holding her child. She’s got revenge on Fred, and it doesn’t particularly feel lovely or settled.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Miller hints that Fred may in fact reappear in future episodes, in the form of June’s flashbacks.
Miller also spoke about season five in terms of how it’s being produced, sounding relieved that it would be free of many of the Covid-related restrictions that governed season four’s production.
“It’s nice to be able to think about a season where we can actually maybe be on set and do it normally.” Miller explained. “We’re just starting to kind of gather our wool and gather our writers and gather up people to pull them back together.”
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